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Rating:  - The horror within
At first glance, there might not seem to be much identifiable terror in this story. The relaxed intangibles fail to produce any moments of heightened drama. The tension never erupts. Not an abundance of blood or gore either. So is this really horror?
I say yes yes YES! There is a simmering level of uneasiness and even hatred between these sisters as death looms over the household. One of them is dying of tuberculosis, and you would think this family tragedy would pull them together. That's not the case.
Ingmar Bergman is the master at deriving the maximum from the minimum. He lets the darkness expose the inner frailties of people. There won't be any brains devoured or any charred baby fetuses in this one, but it is absolute horror, on a more visceral level.
Rating: - Perfection. Timelessness. Genius.
It is apropos that I am the first to contribute to this page since Bergman's death. Apropos for reasons too viscerally considered, and perhaps self-serving, to articulate. Still, though audacious enough to consider myself a lifelong student of Bergman's genius, I will keep this brief.
Though it may sound trite to proclaim this or that film to be one's "all-time favorite," Cries and Whispers is just that for me. When, at the film's transcendent conclusion, the great Harriet Anderson recites in voiceover: "...Now, for a few moments, I can experience perfection, and I feel profoundly grateful to my life, which gives me so much..." it is clear to me that Bergman knew he'd NAILED it that time: nailed the finale, nailed the film, realized his vision and, in so doing, created a monumental achievement, not only in the history of cinema but art itself.
Thank you, Mr. Bergman, for making the words "...Come what may, this is happiness; I cannot wish for anything better..." chime true for me--timelessly--time and time again.
Rating: - sisterly love
one of ingmar bergmans most moving films, as three sisters (harriet andersson, ingrid thulin, liv ullman) reunite around the pending death of one of them. harrowing and unflinching, with great supporting performances around the 3 central characters, not to mention a stark photographic style (longtime bergman collaborator sven nykvist gets huge kudos). i wish i could understand swedish, since im certain there were many subtleties of the language that can not be conveyed in translated subtitling. not a movie you want to watch if youre feeling down, but it IS oddly cathartic. one of the masters best.
Rating:  - I STILL HATE BERGMAN!
I have tried for years & years to get it. I still don't! This being the one Bergman film I seem never to get around to seeing, I made sure I saw it this time @ a Bergman retrospective @ my local art house theatre. Well @ least I sat thru it. During the show, no less than 5 people got up & just walked out. So I guess it's not just me! I personally found it to be mediocre at best. I don't get why folks think this is such an incredible film? The storyline is just so banal, as are the continuous close-ups of faces centered mid-screen. DATED TO SAY THE LEAST! I don't think it holds up-period! I have said it before & I still believe that if you want to see what Bergman was attempting thru-out his career, GO SEE "INTERIORS" BY WOODY ALLEN! He does Bergman BETTER THAN Bergman! And don't even get me started on Liv Ulman---ugh!!!!!
Rating:  - The Sounds Of Cries And Whispers Or A Study In Red
The idea of this film that is considered by many as Bergman's crown achievement came to him in his house at Faro where he lived by himself for sometime in a melancholy state of mind after a rather painful breakup. One image kept coming to him and it was a very vivid and persistent image of a red room (red walls, red furniture) and four women sitting at the window in the room and dressed by the fashion of the beginning of the 20th century. He could not shake the image out of his mind and he knew that the only way to deal with it would be to start writing about the women - who were they, what was their relationship, their lives, their fates?.. He also knew that should the movie be made of his writing, the dominating color of it would be red. Bergman talked with affection and gratitude about his friend and long time collaborator Swen Nykwist who spent many days creating the passionate haunting red world of "Cries and Whispers. The title came to Bergman from one of the reviews on a Mozart's sonata (he does not remember which one). The sonata was described as sounds of cries and whispers...
"Cries and Whispers" is about pain, death, love, lust, hate, and self-loathing. There are more than one scene in the film that I found unbearable, horrifying and depressing. In the same time, it is about beauty and power of life, every minute of it - how little we appreciated it until it is too late. Typical Bergman's subjects, Bergman's actresses giving amazing performances, strikingly beautiful - it even hurts your eyes cinematography by Sven Nykvist - typical Bergman's masterpiece - what less do we expect from him? I admire the brilliance of it: acting, cinematography, Bergman's simple but devastating approach to Death as an inevitable part of life. The ending is heartbreaking - with Harriet's face and her words from beyond the grave about appreciating every minute of life...
Not my favorite but powerful and devastating film of the great master.
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